Michael Phillips
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COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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Sure – the website is: https://www.mus-id.com/
There is a demo video and a trial version.
What you are referring to is the specialization part of the process. Editors at that level are hired to put a story together. Their talent is finding those moments, the timing, the pacing, to create those moments that “work”. Some editors are more technically oriented and will get into using more of the toolset all with the goal of creating the moment.
In other productions, due to budget and other variables, editors are not only the storyteller, but the finisher, deliverer, etc. Such is the business we work in.
Michael
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There is also this blog on what can be 1/4 frame slip synced or not, depending on how you create the sub/.sync clip:
https://24p.com/wordpress/?p=163
Michael
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Schedule and specialization drives a lot of the decisions. In studio level productions, you’re not making revenue until its released. So multiple talents working together which is why change management is so key to these workflows allowing different teams to work. So in the end, multitasking is a function of delivery needs.
In the indie space, time is their value, so doing as much as they can, for as little pay as they can is the goal.
Michael
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I don’t think Blackmagic has ever made claims that it would be as good or better than MC or Lightworks. They are working at their pace adding more editing functionality with each release (same as Adobe). Appealing to the cine crowd is great, but it certainly is not the biggest market out there. Studio level productions, multi-editor situations, shared storage editing seats is not their target market and they are more than willing to let Avid have that and work on better interchange and conform selling their I/O (see the whole Avid DNxIO scenario). One question I have is the pace at which Resolve adds editing functionality compared to the pace that Avid adds color correction?
Most of my work is with features and workflow design, etc. I also produce and edit. The last short I did could easily have been done in Resolve, or PPro, and not Avid. On one hand, as an old MC user, I like the comfort level of knowing how things work – the second nature of the tool – but I am not the market Avid is looking for. Avid needs to engage new users and grow their seats to drive revenue – especially with the Avid Marketplace being a stated core piece of revenue in that space.
From a developer perspective… I created an AMA plug-in that allows Media Composer to access all the metadata from an MP3, MP4, AICC and BWF with ID3 tags. Now the editors has lots of info on which to search, sort such as lyrics, BPM, rights holder, etc. At the end, it’s a drag and drop to an applet that generates a rights management starter report for which songs were used where and for how long. Since it is AMA, it is Avid only and I can say that I am addressing the smallest seat count of all NLE’s. It has also been impossible to get Avid to list this plug-in with all the other AMA plug-ins listed on their website and they keep referencing this Avid Marketplace that will happen at some point. My guess is it will be available with the Avid Media Composer|Free release sometime “later this year”. So needless to say, it becomes a hobby and not a career. 🙂
From a market perspective, the “studio cine” crowd is theirs to lose as they have owned that space since the introduction of a true 24p editing system in August of 1992. They are still in a strong position in that market. But that market buys MC, Pro Tools, and ISIS, and not much of the other big ticket items such as Interplay, services, etc. as seen in broadcast market. But growing their seat count has been more challenging. Thus the creation and release of Avid Media Composer|Free – to get non-Avid users aware of the solution. I taught a Media Composer class at a Community College (18-20 year-olds) that have already had some experience with anything but Avid – and let me tell you, it is a eye-opener to see how unintuitive parts of MC are to that new user base. We are used to it as we are spoon fed the changes over time.
So yes, as a user in the “studio cine space”, I use Media Composer. Other indies in the “cine space, like my nephew, who directed a 6K RED feature? He is on Premiere Pro. As a public company, they need more than that to grow, or figure out what more can they sell into that existing studio cine space.
Michael
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You’re welcome. What will be interesting to watch is the success of Resolve 12 as an ever-growing editing system, in addition to its color correcting capabilities. Not only vis-a-vis Lightworks as a free/low cost editor, but against other NLE systems as well – depending on program type, environment, etc. For Media Composer it will be between the new reduced functionality, “easier to use” free version called Media Composer|First and soon to be released Resolve 12.
Michael
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Baselight for Avid is an AVX plug-in that gets applied to the clips in an Avid sequence. That sequence could be edited within Avid or conformed in Avid from another system. Depending on system it is coming from, that could be a hassle or not. As such, you have to open Media Composer, conform sequence, apply Baselight as an effect, and work from there. It is not a standalone USD $1,000 system.
As with all AVX plug-ins, you an export an AAF and the AVX plug-ins and its parameters are part of the file. The receiving system needs to either have the equivalent plug-in or know how to parse the AVX information.
For example, I can use a Boris AVX effect in Media Composer, and send my AAF to Resolve that has the same Boris effect as OFX and will apply me settings. If there is no Boris OFX installed, it is a blob that cannot be changed.
Baselight behaves the same way. There is great interchange between their dedicated Baselight stations and the AAF/AVX Baselight plug-in usng their BLG file. You can also import/export their own interchange color metadata files from within the plug-in itself.
In your scenario, you would have to have the same Baselight effect available (I don’t think there is one) and export an AAF from Lightworks into Media Composer as a conform process (back to camera originals? What4ever codec Lightworks is working in?) Apply the Baselight plug-in to the sequence, and have full control of the color as you see in the tutorials. From there, getting back to Lightworks might be an issue – I have never done that or know whether that is a need or not.
The other version is a plug-in for VFX editors that can be used as a node – but again, not a standalone system. That would be their dedicated color correction Baselight.
Michael
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As long as the audio you are syncing was imported in a 35mm/4 perf film project, you can slip sync there and use those clips in a non film project with no issues.
Michael
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The issue with it not sounding as you expect is because the source clips are coming in with pan set to mid on both tracks. If you open the mixer with the source clip active, you can pan A1 to far left and A2 to far right and it will now be what you expected with matching levels and volume.
I believe you can set that as a batch process if I recall. That is what I meant by “summed”.My audio vernacular is not as good as my video.
Michael
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Hmmm…. are they stereo files being summed when playing back (just guessing)? How do they play in other applications? If you can send a small example, I will give it a look/listen: michael[at]24p[dot]com
Michael
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I did teach a Media Composer class at the Community College level not too long ago, and as with most students of that age, all came in using either FCP or PPro. There are lots of things in the UI that we take for granted having been on it for so long, but when looking at it through their (fresh) eyes, Yikes! There’s lots of illogical stuff going on – a lot of that started in 5.5, and 6 did no favors UI wise, and even new features seem more bolted on rather than part of a creative, logical UX design. For example, ask them to create a custom column…
That being said – AMA is one of those things that benefits Avid more than it benefits the user. I can understand the reasoning behind it, Avid couldn’t keep up with all the different codecs being generated so it created a single plug-in architecture to allow camera manufactures to create their own relieving Avid of keeping up. But – from a useability perspective it is not that intuitive at all. Now it called Link, but you still need to download an AMA plug-in (will they be called Link Plug-ins?). As you say, they are not installed when you install Media Composer other than the ones Avid develops. Can’t recall if RED is pre-installed as Avid develops that one too. This has been a discussion since this concept was introduced. I have asked why not include all AMA plug-in that have been tested and qualified for that release?
This will be interesting to see what happens with they release Media Composer | First for the newbie to be introduced to Media Composer. Once they do figure out where to find them, then off to the manufacture’s site, then download – they still have to shut down MC to install, relaunch, etc. All to link to a !$@#$!#@@ file. I have asked for the last several beta that if I select “Link” from the File menu that the clips are created in a new bin. If I select Link from an active bin, the clips go in that bin. I don’t care if it’s folder or file – consistency and predictability goes a long way. Then you need to know about folder level linking versus the file itself. When selecting folder you need to know how many levels up (can’t the system figure that out on its own!?!?!?). etc. etc. etc.
Then you have to transcode in many cases for performance reasons, so you do. Now you got a .new clip to manage doubling your media management… then conform issues, re-relinking, etc. It is not intuitive at all.
In Resolve, just keep navigating till you see media clips – drag them to the mediapool/bin. Done. No plug-ins needed. No knowing what level to select, etc. Same for PPro.
So yes, I agree with your assessment – your “link” will still depend on AMA Plug-ins.
Michael
